


It Happened Like This

by jenelleman



Series: this love is in pieces [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale pack, Alive Pack, Alpha to be Derek Hale, Angst, Derek Hale is Bad at Feelings, Derek Hale is bad at basically everything, Emotional Hurt, M/M, sorry for all the angst, sterek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-12 19:58:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19951978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jenelleman/pseuds/jenelleman
Summary: They had everything and Derek just decided that he didn’t want it anymore.And Stiles knows how it happened, he just doesn’t understand why.And he is so unbelievably sad.





	It Happened Like This

Stiles doesn’t know what happened, okay? He  _ doesn’t. _

They were together.

Then they weren’t.

Now he’s stood here, as far away from Derek as he could get in the living room of the pack house.

There’s like an invisible line drawn in the space between him and Derek, and both are loathe to cross it.

And Stiles doesn’t know what happened, at least that’s what he tells himself. But if he lets himself really think about it, he knows what happened.

He knows  _ exactly  _ how they got here.

It happened like this;

________________________________

Stiles was quiet as he watched Derek pace the length of their living room. His eyes are heavy, and his bones feel tired.

He doesn’t really know if that’s a thing, but he feels like it should be; because they are, his bones are so so tired.

And Derek won’t stop pacing. Stiles has given up on trying to get him to stop; Derek won’t let Stiles near enough to touch, and Stiles’ pleading voice doesn’t seem to break through to him.

Stiles draws in a shuddering breath and tentatively feels the back of his head. His hand comes away sticky with blood that’s almost dry.  _ Sure,  _ Lydia stitched him up, but then Derek was there manhandling Stiles back to their place.

And Stiles gets it, he does. He gets the need for his alpha to have his injured mate in  _ their  _ den, where the only smells were DerekandStiles. He gets it because this isn’t the first time it’s happened.

But, he is covered in blood (his own, and others too), eyes heavy, bones tired, and he just wants to shower and curl into a ball on their bed and  _ sleep. _

But Derek won’t stop  _ pacing. _

“Derek,” he tries, and his voice sounds  _ heavy.  _ Heavy like, like it’s hard to get words out. Hard to get his tongue to work properly, hard to get his lips to move in time with the words he’s pushing out.

Derek doesn’t stop, doesn’t even glance up at the heaviness in Stiles voice. And Stiles.. well he almost fucking died tonight. Not that, that’s new. Because it’s not. It happens far too often. Mermaids, gnomes, fucking faeries; all harmless in the stories, and all had tried to kill him.

Tonight it had been a wendigo.

But Stiles has his pack, and his alpha, his mate, and he always pulls through. Too much to live for, he supposes.

But now it was all over and his adrenaline had worn off hours ago.

“Derek please,” he’s basically whining at this point, but his voice still doesn’t sound quite right. “I’m covered in blood and so tired. Der, please. I want to shower and sleep.  _ Please _ .”

And at this, Derek stops. He looks at Stiles and the boy can see something settle in his eyes.

He nods once, and murmurs softly, “shower Stiles, then sleep.”

He’s stopped his pacing, but he doesn’t follow after Stiles. And he’s still not yet in bed when Stiles steps out of the shower, but Stiles' eyes are heavy, bones tired, so he just settles in and closes his eyes.

When he wakes in the morning Derek’s side of the bed is cold.

_________________________

Stiles has just grabbed another beer when he feels eyes on him. 

He doesn’t have to look up to know it’s Derek. The mate bond still hasn’t broken, but even without it, Stiles would be able to know it was Derek.

Derek was the only one who ever looked at Stiles like that, worry and anger rolled up into one. 

Stiles doesn’t look his way, refusing to meet his eyes. He just downs the beer in his hands and picks up another one before walking away.

Stiles doesn’t feel the anger wash over him like he expected. 

He just feels unbelievably sad.

They had  _ everything  _ and Derek just decided that he didn’t want it anymore.

And Stiles knows  _ how  _ it happened, he just doesn’t understand  _ why.  _

And he is so unbelievably sad.

_________________________________

Stiles could feel Derek’s eyes on him from across the room. He could feel Derek’s worry vibrating through the air, but the man made no move to cross the room. 

“Why do you insist on risking your life? To prove a point?” Derek's voice was hard, too hard, but even so Stiles didn’t react. He’d grown used to it. 

He lolled his head to the side, just barely catching Derek’s eye. He could play this game, if that’s what Derek wanted. He was a pro at this. His voice was empty, devoid of any emotion as he answered. “Yes.”

“You don’t have anything to prove Stiles,” Derek’s voice, for the first time in  _ days, _ dropped its hardness, making it just soft enough to slip through the cracks in Stiles’ own hard exterior.

His shoulders started shaking and he knew Derek could smell the salt from his tears before he heard the sob escape his lips.

He doesn’t know why he’s crying, really. Maybe it’s this night. Maybe it’s the softness in Derek’s voice. Maybe it’s just exhaustion.

Or maybe it’s the fact that, even as Stiles’ body shakes with sobs, Derek still doesn’t cross the living room. 

________________________________

It was later, much later when Talia found him, sequestered alone in the library, a book on mates opened in his lap. 

“Oh mijo,” Stiles doesn't startle at her soft voice. She comes and sits next to him on the love seat he’s curled up on.

He doesn’t look up at her, and he doesn’t lean into her touch, as he normally would.

“Please don’t call me that Tally,” it’s a slip of the tongue, the name he called her as a boy.

When she speaks her voice is still soft, but now it’s firm too.

“I’ve known you since you were a baby mijo, I’ll call you whatever I please.”

Stiles still doesn’t look up, his eyes are focused on a paragraph, he’s read it multiple times, but it doesn’t make the truth of it any easier to digest.

“The mate bond is never going to go away, is it?”

She sighs and grabs the book out of his hands. He doesn’t need it though, the words are seared into his brain. And it’s not anything he didn’t already know anyway. 

Wolves, they mate for life. Humans, they do not. Wolf mate bonds cannot be broken. With one exception; if they mate with humans, they can be broken.

But only by the human.

And well Stiles has loved Derek his whole life.

And even now, heart in a million tiny pieces, he knew, he would always love Derek.

How could he not?

_______________________________

It happened like this;

It had been a beautiful day, no clouds in sight. The sun was shining and it was a balmy hot, the thermometer sitting at 95 degrees.

Derek hadn’t touched Stiles, really truly touched him, in  _ weeks.  _ Stiles knew what was happening, and he was helpless to do anything but stand back and watch it happen. 

It all culminated on this beautiful summer day, when Stiles decided he’d finally had  _ enough.  _

If Derek was going to destroy everything, then that was… well not fine. Not fine at all.

But if he was going to break up with Stiles, then he just wanted to know. Wanted it to be over with. He was tired of just sitting around, on edge, waiting for it to happen. 

So when Derek walked through the door that evening, Stiles was ready. He had his bags packed and he was standing in the living room, waiting.

“Stiles?” Derek stopped in his tracks, tilted his head in confusion. 

“Just say it Derek. Say the words and I’ll leave. I can’t do this in between thing any longer.”

Stiles squared his shoulders as Derek made his way into the living room, stopping just inches away from Stiles. It’s closer than he’d been in days. He draws in a breath, and speaks, his voice rough.

“We shouldn’t see each other any more. I.. can’t. If something were to happen.. I’m supposed to take over as Alpha and I can’t do that if my mate is  _ dead.  _ I won’t be able.. I’ll go feral Stiles. And I.. I just can’t do this anymore.”

As far as reasons go, it’s a fucking stupid one. Stiles knows this, and he knows Derek knows it too. Wolves mate for life. Derek will go feral if Stiles dies either way. 

Stiles doesn’t say this though, he just nods, let’s the feeling of relief wash over him, picks up his bags, and walks out the door of their house. 

The relief doesn’t last long, just long enough for him to make it to his Jeep. His hands are trembling as he tries to put the key into the ignition.

His whole body is shaking, but he’s not crying. At least he doesn’t think he is, he could be. He doesn’t know.

He’s still trying to get his damn key into the ignition when a hand covers his. He looks up and finds Talia sitting in his passenger seat. Her expression is sad, but there’s no pity there.

Stiles is thankful for that, doesn’t know if he would be able to hold himself together if Talia pitied him. Not that he thinks he’s doing a stellar job of holding himself together as it is.

She gently takes his keys from his hand, “let me.”

Her voice is firm, holds no room for argument. Not that Stiles was going to argue with her; he realizes he probably shouldn’t be driving.

Stiles isn’t paying attention during the drive, but he expects to be taken to the pack house. He knows all the Hales are there, and he doesn’t really want to face them. They’re pack, yeah, but Derek is their blood. Usually that doesn’t matter, but Stiles feels like, right now it does.

This is a break up, people always side with blood in a break up.

Stiles is thankful for small mercies when his Jeep comes to a stop outside Scott’s house. He sees other cars in the driveway and knows that they’re all here;  _ his  _ people. The ones he brought to the pack.  _ His  _ family.

It’s Jackson who throws open the door and rushes towards him. Stiles is being pulled from the Jeep and ushered inside before he can say goodbye to Talia.

“I’ll kill him,” it’s Lydia who says this and Stiles isn’t surprised. Lydia is scary and vicious and 100 percent capable of killing a werewolf. He has no doubt.

He wants to smile, to thank her, but tell her it’s not necessary. Wants to say that he is fine. But what happens instead is this;

Stiles falls to the ground, his legs not willing to support him any longer. His grasp at the ground,  _ desperate  _ to hold onto anything. His breath is hitching as a sob works its way out of him.

And he screams. And screams. Lydia would later describe it as  _ blood curdling,  _ and explain that they were afraid it was the bond breaking, afraid it might kill him because he just screamed and didn’t stop.

But it wasn’t the bond breaking, it was his heart. 

**Author's Note:**

> God all I seem to write is angst   
> I’m so sorry   
> But this is kind of a preface to Not Okay, Together.
> 
> I kind of love this, hope you do too!
> 
> Please comment and leave Kudos! They make me smile.


End file.
